New Years Eve

With our due date come and gone, I resigned myself to not being able to have our little guy until the 5th, which is when we were scheduled to be induced.  So, I tried to make the most of my time alone with Faye.  Her Uncle Ryan spent the previous evening with us and was more than happy to dance in circles with Faye, eat some sugar cookies with Faye, and even have multiple tea parties with her, too.  

After my mom and Alan got home, we decided to have our version of a celebration.  New Year's Eve is always low key, just how I like it.  This year we played Wits and Wagers and watched The Princess Bride.  Ryan left around 8:00 pm to head back to Logan, and Faye went to sleep just after Ryan left.  After the show had ended, I went to bed!  That's right, I was asleep by 11:00 pm on New Year's Eve.  Alan was kind enough to wake me up at midnight for a kiss, after which I rolled over and went back to sleep.  In my book, I'd be okay if every New Year's Celebration was like this. 

Christmas

 With Baby Brother's due date so close to Christmas, we decided to play it safe and stay home for the holiday.  It was a fun and relaxing Christmas.  Faye was excited about Baby Jesus, Santa, "Happy Christmas Trees," snowmen, and the works.  It made all the little moments leading up to Christmas just as exciting as Christmas morning.

Even though Faye was excited to see Santa pictures and to point him out in the mall, she was still hesitant to get close to him.  However, she did warm up to Mrs. Clause, who we referred to as the "Christmas Princess." Faye was excited to show her pretty orange dress to the Christmas Princess. 

We enjoyed another quiet Christmas morning this year.  Faye woke up at 7:00, her usual time.  We went down stairs and ate breakfast, played with Grandma Lisa for a while, and then we woke up Alan, Greg, and Reed. 

All lined up with our stockings.  Faye Finally caught on to the fun of opening presents.  Each present was exciting to Faye, even the new clothes.  We brought down a mirror so Faye could try on each new outfit and check herself out.  She eagerly helped Greg and Reed break in their new toys as they were unwrapped. 

It finally snowed in the valley.  I quickly called dibs on shoveling the driveway with secret motives of hoping to induce labor.  After working on the driveway we headed over to the Calvert home to join in on the Skype call with Elder Calvert.  It was so good to hear from Drew, and always fun to spend time with the Calvert clan.  

I'm so grateful for the Christmas season, but always disappointed at how quickly it ends.  I wish the warmth and kindness shared by strangers could continue year round.  I'm especially grateful this year to have had both of my brothers home for Christmas, it was an unexpected but delightful treat.  They are such fun uncles to our Faye and their laughs light up even the darkest days.

Graceful Me

7:00 AM: Day starts out like normal.  Faye wakes up, we start our daily routine.
7:30 AM: I help my mom carry her work gear out to the car.
7:31 AM: I slip going down the stairs into the garage and fall on the cement.

From there the day was not so normal.  I felt fine, my shoulder had caught the brunt of the fall, but being 37 weeks along I decided to called the OB, just to be safe.  I was fully expecting them to say, "Oh, you should be fine.  No worries."  Instead I was asked to head to the Labor and Delivery unit to be monitored. 

Sudden panic hit me.  Alan was at work, I didn't have a car, I didn't even have a hospital bag packed!  Reed was kind enough to pick Faye up from the school bus while Alan and I hurried to LDS Hospital.  By the time we got all checked in it was 10:30 ish.  Luckily all was well with the little guy, no torn placenta or any distress coming from junior, and no labor.  After an hour of being hooked up to the machines we got the green light to go home.

I wouldn't say I'd like to repeat the fall or the long day, but It was good to have a wake up call on what preparations need to be done before the baby comes. 

Halloween Fun- Wheeler Farm

We started off our Halloween celebrations a week early by visiting Wheeler Farm's Pumpkin Patch and kid maze.  Luckily, we had Mom there to take fun pictures.  I'm getting to big and slow to keep up with Faye and handle a real camera very well, so I am eternally grateful to my mom for sharing her pictures. 

This year Faye is in LOVE with everything Halloween, other than the candy it seems.  She was so excited when we pulled out our old Halloween costumes and found a witches outfit for her to wear!  It was a bit big, I wore it when I was 11, but that didn't stop her from loving it to pieces. 

Faye and Viv walking through the maze together.  It's been so fun to watch these two become better friends.  

Cute little witchy sans hat.  Faye would cackle with the most pleasant "E-E-E" anytime you mentioned she was a witch.

Pumpkins have been the joy of the season!  Faye was thrilled to pick one out from the pumpkin patch!  And, just to make things better, we got to go for a wagon ride around the farm and see all the tractors!  Love this girl. 

Faye

Back in April Faye's speech therapist informed me that she was seeing some "red flags" in Faye's personality/mannerisms that could put her on the autistic spectrum.  She suggested we get her tested to be sure.  We called the suggested office, but the soonest they could get us in was mid-August.  After a consultation appointment, a testing appointment, and finally a follow-up appointment, we finally have the results for Miss Faye. 

Faye's behaviors during the assessment placed her in the autism spectrum range.  She's "high functioning," and the psychologist anticipates Faye will grow out of these tendencies as she learns to speak better.  To help her with the speech development and social skills we'll be working hard at home as well as looking into some additional "therapy."

We love our little Faye just the way she is, and I have no doubt we'll see her blossom into a cute little elementary school girl who can display her intelligence in a more conventional method.  Until then, I'm grateful we get to enjoy Faye's creative and mechanical mind.  Watching her learn and grow has been the greatest joy.

Happy Birthday Agneta

We had an early birthday party for Agneta, since she and Grandpa would be gone on her actual birthday.  This cake, though not my best work, is a current favorite of mine just for the quality of the handwriting!  I can officially write better with a piping bag than with a pen.  Also, I wish I had a picture of Heidi and Agneta snitching the cream cheese frosting from my bowl.  It was the funniest sight!

Faye could care less about the cake, she was just anxious to try and blow out the candles.  

Luckily we gave her a turn to blow them out.  She was so pleased.   

Happy Birthday, Agneta!

Antelope Island

My Grandpa Hazen and his wife, Agneta, came out for a visit!  They drove all the way from Wisconsin bringing precious cargo: Dino's Grandfather Clock with Grandpa had built for Mom.  They stayed for a few days and wanted to experience some Utah scenery.  So, one day Mom took them down to Capitol Reef, and the next we packed up the whole clan for a trip to Antelope Island.

Mom's great shot of the locals.  Love that the algae is participating in the fall colors.

Mom and I both had cameras as the girls played around the farm, thank heavens.  It's tough keeping up with two toddlers if you want pictures.  Faye was more than excited to ride this bull. 

 

 I'm such a sucker for this old Doge.  Faye's "posing" methods are a bit unique.

Faye and her Daddy.  So cute. 

 

 Again, Faye's posing.

Faye and Alan started chasing each other in circles.  She was giggling so hard while running that apparently she couldn't control her face.  This shot is priceless.

Our clan for the day!  So fun to see Grandpa again.

First Day of School

My little Faye sure didn't seem so little this morning.  She had her shark backpack and rode a school bus all by herself to her first day of preschool!

She was rather sad about leaving, mostly because I had to take away her toys and leave them in the house. 

But all her tears cleared up the moment she saw the school bus stop just for her!  She was so excited to ride on the bus, and the bus driver reported that Faye was a very good girl.  I'm so excited for Faye to go to school, hopefully we'll see more improvement with her speech and she'll fit right in.

Faye's Birthday Photos Round Two

With all the fun we had taking birthday pictures of Faye at Wheeler Farm, you may remember we had a struggle since Faye wouldn't let Grandma Lisa step far enough back to take a picture.  Even though I adore the shots we got, I thought I'd take Faye to a studio to see how she handled a stranger being the photographer.  The experience was better than I had ever hoped!

Faye fell in love with our photographer.  He was so cute to play with her in attempts to get a good smile, and very patient when she was too wiggly to get the exact pose he had envisioned.

I was surprised to see a pattern in many of the consecutive shots.  Faye would have a cute, happy, giggly look...

Followed by sass.  Where did my child even learn to look sassy?! So cute.

Cute, happy, giggly shot.

More sass!  Goodness. I just can't get over how cute the dress is that Alan bought for Faye.  Luckily we had the leggings on hand, and I was more than happy to buy her some combat boots.

This running shot is so fun, look at her 'fly' in the air!

I had tried to choose one or two photos from each series so as to not be excessive, but I love these with the large umbrella light behind Faye! Each one shows a different bit of her personality.

Faye was twirling in circles at this point.

 In all, this was a successful experiment.  Faye does well with strangers as a photographer, and I love Foto Fly's quality and price all at the same time.  Me thinks we'll be back.

Baby oh Baby

So excited to be expecting a sibling for Faye.  This pregnancy has been rough, even the conception there of was rough.  After finishing up menopause last year, we made a plan with the doc to try for another child.  In attempts to help us become pregnant before the endometriosis had time to build back up, he put me on Clomid.  After several months of increasing levels of Clomid, with no success, we were sent to a fertility expert.  

The clinic we visited was nice, as was the staff, but our discussion with the fertility doctor took an unexpected turn when he disapproved of us being sent to him.  Yes, technically we hadn't been trying for a full 12 months, and yes, nobody can say with 100% confidence that I have Endometriosis, but it's a solid 90% or so.  He spent a good 45 minutes debating with himself whether or not it was worth his time to help us,  but finally decided we could try AI after I go visited a GI doc and finished all the preliminary tests.  

I did visit the GI, which resulted in a lovely colonoscopy, and went through the preliminary tests and procedures.  One of these was an Hysterosalpingo Gram (HSG).  I swear up and down the wall that the HSG is what made the difference in helping us to conceive.  Luckily, we were able to conceive before having to undergo traditional fertility treatment. 

As far as this pregnancy goes, I've been just as sick as I was with Faye.  Even as recently as last week, I lost 5lbs to throwing up; but no trips to the hospital for dehydration, though, so that's good.  The endo pain has still been a bother, and the additional pain of cysts on each ovary have added to that.  However, we are so excited, and immensely grateful, to be expecting a sweet baby boy.  He's so strong already!  I often will be at work helping customers when he karate chops me and I wind up bent over from the impact.

Our cute little 'Jack Skellington' baby.

Visitors from Minnesota

Right after Faye's Party, we had company fly in from the Great White North.  Aunt Gin and Mckay!  This was Mckay's first time visiting Utah, so we made a list of things he wanted to see and began ticking them off.  Number one on the list was to visit Temple Square.  In attempts to be efficient, we took Trax down town since Mckay had never been on a train.

Waiting at the train station.  Note the smoke in the back ground!  Gotta love wild fire season. 

Faye was happy to bring her new Sophia toy and her new necklace on the journey.

 We have proof of the train ride!

Me and Auntie Gin.

Faye and her Grandma, whom she loves more than life itself (even though her smile doesn't show it.)

Mom got so many great shots around the temple; Conference morning worthy kind of shots. 

Faye sure loves her Uncle Reed.

Surprisingly there were no weddings while we were down town, so we took advantage of the pedestal in front of the temple.

I love taking extended family down to temple square.  It's so much fun to tell them about the buildings, our pioneer heritage, and about the basics of our beliefs.  

After our fill of admiring the temple and the visitor centers, we nipped over to City Creek for some lunch.  Faye was almost excited about the water areas.

Reed and Mckay were good sports as we ladies talked and walked, continually dragging them around down town.  Finally, Faye was loudly hinting her need for a nap.  We rode the train home and enjoyed a quiet afternoon from that point on.